A Florida man with a lengthy rap sheet ran afoul of two powerful forces yesterday: the long arm of Texas law and the mystical might of Justin Bieber.

Forty-year-old Robert C. Grusczynski pleaded guilty in Montgomery County district court to one count of second-degree felony forgery. Judge Fred Edwards banged his hammer and ordered the grifter to serve eight years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Grusczynski lured in his marks through Craigslist and met them in the parking lot of a restaurant in The Woodlands. Five known victims in Houston purchased ten forged tickets before Grusczynski was exposed. One was a single mom who reportedly spent $300 to take her seven-year-old daughter to the show.

After three weeks on the lam, Grusczynski, whose bevy of aliases included Matthew D. Dewberry, was captured by the freakin' U.S. Marshals in Houston on November 28 and dragged back to Montgomery County to face justice, Conroe-style. U.S. Marshals? We kinda wish the Texas Rangers had gotten ahold of this punk, because if you get caught with fake Bieber tix in his native Canada, the Mounties are duty-bound to hunt you down. (Actually, the Rangers save themselves for Willie Nelson and George Strait forgers.)

We think we just made that up.

At any rate, for the next few years at least, prison rodeo tickets will be the only ducats this loser will be able to forge.

Grusczynski has previous convictions for robbery, theft, counterfeiting, forgery, and various offenses relating to prescription drugs and the illegal acquisition of same.